The Near Stars
by MeltingSunlight
Summary: I can't do this anymore, Cat realised. This wasn't just tonight, wasn't just this party or that boy, it was her. She couldn't keep the pretence up any longer or she would break. Rated M because I'm paranoid. CADE
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N: So this is going to be one of those fics I update whenever I have some free time, so bear with me- good things come to those who review. Love y'all._**

 ** _[Cat's PoV]_**

 _This is what I need. A top up. A firm reminder._

The Party could be heard well before it could be seen, music obnoxiously loud even for a host of teenage boys bleeding out through the walls and into the evening air. Cat steeled herself. Smiled. Deep breath. Pushed the defeat from her eyes, and in she went.

There were people crammed into each and every corner and the whole house smelled of cheap alcohol and terrible food and hormones.

 _Mom'll be happy to know I went to a party with boys. Nice and normal, just like what she always wanted from me._ That was true. Besides, Cat was always with a flock of boys and it had been too long since her last boyfriend. Tori had noticed at lunch. She wasn't supposed to have cracks like that showing. Her mom would find out and then she'd have nowhere to go. Exhausted with the weight of it all, Cat waded further into the party, wishing she was at home, or school, or anywhere but where she was.

A boy with blonde hair and a burgundy shirt suddenly latched onto her arm. "Heeyy!" He slurred. It was only just past eleven now, the party had started at ten, and he was already drunk out of his mind.

"Hi." Cat said simply. He would do, she supposed.

"Hey," He dragged her down by the arm onto the sofa. "Do you wanna go find a room you know, _a room?"_

 _Actually, maybe he's taken something_ , Cat reassessed. Her mom would be fine with that though. As long as there was a Y chromosome in there, Mrs Valentine was happy.

"Er, this is someone's _house_." She said, trying to avoid the subject.

"Do you live 'round here often?" He stumbled, smiling goofily and ignoring her previous comment.

"Do I- what?" _Okay so maybe he wont do._

The boy laughed, tried to speak, and then laughed over himself some more whilst Cat decided if putting up with this shit was honestly worth the happy mother.

"I-" He snickered. "Is your dad in prison? 'Cause, 'cause if I was your dad I'd be in prison." He howled with laughter whilst his hand tried to slide from her knee to her inner thigh.

 _Was that a rape joke?_

Suddenly Cat felt sick. She shoved the guy off of her and he was too off his face to even look offended, instead he just continued to laugh thickly and stumbled off to find someone else.

 _What the hell am I doing?_ _Why am I doing this to myself? To hide from my mom?_

She got up from the sofa too fast and had to put her hand over her eyes as tiny white pinpricks swirled at the edges of her vision and her ears rang dully.

When she re-opened her eyes again the room seemed to be swaying. Her breath was catching in her throat and her hands were shaking as she pushed numbly through the crowds back towards the door, each step feeling like slow motion.

The night air was cold but it felt good against her hot face as Cat gulped down as much oxygen as she could, as if some how breathing enough of it in would give her the strength to compose herself. Her head was spinning.

 _I can't do this anymore._ Cat realised. This wasn't just tonight, wasn't just this party or that boy, it was her. She couldn't keep the pretence up any longer or she would break. The reality of that hit Cat like a punch in the stomach and she felt tears threaten, her windpipe like a pinhole. She did the only thing she knew.

"Jade?" She could hear Bon Iver playing in the background. Holocene. Cat closed her eyes tightly and listened intently, trying to calm herself down.

"Cat?" Concern lined Jade's voice. Even over the phone she could hear the distress in Cats tone.

"I- I need to come over." Cat wasn't usually so blunt but as she said the words she realised how true that statement was and her voice broke, along with her trust in it.

"Sure, are you okay? You need me to come get you?" Jade was a good friend beneath it all. Cat's heart twisted painfully as she thought about all the times she'd lied to her.

"No, I'm- I'm gonna walk." Jade's house was only a block away. Cat needed the head space.

"Kitty it's really late, are you sure? Where are you?" Jade must have caught a snippet of the music from the house behind.

"I'll be there soon." Cat managed. Jade sounded like she was going to try and convince her to stay where she was and allow the goth to pick her up but suddenly the call ended. Cat looked down at her dead phone. Now Jade was going to be worried. She sighed and forced herself to start walking as fast as she could, away from the party and all the boys inside. It grew quieter the further away she got, and Cat was left with just her thoughts.

This was it. She was going to Jade's and she was going to tell the truth and damn the consequences. If her mom didn't accept her then maybe Jade's mom would. Opposite to her daughter, Jade's mom was quiet, and perceptive and as far as Cat could tell, not the type to judge people. Maybe that was harsh. Jade had her days but she _was_ perceptive and when it came down to it, she had always been there for Cat.

Cat's mind flitted back to her own mother. Sometimes her mom reminded her of president Snow from that Hunger Games movie Andre and Robbie had seen with her. The film had been too violent for her liking, but one scene had always stuck with her since she'd seen it, because it had hit so close to home it had engraved itself into her memory. It was almost a carbon copy of the conversation her mom had had with her about a year before. It had been so real to Cat at the time she'd had to excuse herself and leave the cinema for a couple of minutes to stand in the lobby pretending to send a text whilst she calmed down.

 _"_ _What do you want me to do?"_

 _"_ _When you and Peeta are on tour, you need to smile. You need to be grateful. But above all, you must be madly prepared-to-end-it-all in love, do you think you can manage that?"_

 _"_ _Yes."_

 _"_ _Yes what?"_

 _"_ _I'll convince them."_

 _"_ _No. Convince me."_

Come to think of it, it must have been about a year since _that_ by now. Two years of pretending and lying.

A couple of quiet minutes went by and Cat hugged her arms around herself to keep some warmth in. Her jacket was white denim and beneath that was just a red tank top, neither of which were helping to retain heat as Cat started to feel the extent of the night's cold. Her right knee was particularly chilly, as she'd split the knee earlier when she'd knelt down to pick up a dollar she found under her bed. Her mum was always telling her her jeans were too tight, but Cat's tiny frame meant that any bigger sizes were too long in the leg for her. Besides; she liked her skinny jeans. Jade had picked these for her, they were simple, black and had two sets of zipper pockets on each size, one on top of the other. Cat wore them a lot.

A figure was walking towards her down the sidewalk and Cat hoped it wasn't another drunken teenage boy. As they drew nearer Cat decided it was a woman.

 _Come to think of it, that looks awfully like…_

"Jadey?" Cats voice was still wavering.

"Cat?" Jade's face lit up momentarily as she passed under a streetlight. Her arms were hugged around her middle for warmth in a similar fashion to Cats and her hair was up in a messy pony tail. Cat drew level with her and Jade saw the look on her face and frowned. "Hey Kitty, are you alright? Sounded kinda rough on the phone and then you disappeared on me."

Cat looked at Jade. The other girl looked exhausted, it was past midnight and now she was out in the cold and it was all Cat's fault because of her stupid messed up life. Cat burst into tears.

Jade looked slightly taken aback, she had never seen Cat cry, not really. She'd seen the old crocodile tears, sure, but never like this. She'd never seen Cat so raw.

"Oh, Cat…" Jade hugged her. She didn't usually do hugs but it was usually Cat who she made exceptions for for everything else, so she decided she may as well.

"Cat, what's happened?"

Cat didn't say anything, she wasn't sure if she could. She buried her face against Jade's neck and tried miserably to keep herself together.

Jade rubbed her back. "Come on, let's get back to mine before we freeze. We can talk when there's duvet."

That sounded good. "Okay." Cat sniffled.

Jade kept her arm around cat on the way back to hers. Cat was grateful for the warmth, and also for the comfort. Jade's mom was still up when they got back. She was on the sofa with a glass of red wine and a lot of paperwork spread out around her. A laptop was perched precariously on her knee.

"Uh, Cat's here." Jade said obviously, despite her mom looking right at them, not knowing enough to be able to proffer an explanation. "She's going to stay."

Jade's mom nodded and cordially and returned to her papers. She was always so still, Cat thought. So quiet. Compared to her own mother who was always running here to there wittering shrilly about things only _she_ could get stressed over. It was a nice change of pace for Cat coming to Jades.

Jade led her upstairs to the third floor of the house, which was essentially one huge en suit bedroom. Holocene was still playing; _Jade must have left in a rush,_ Cat assumed guiltily. If the room had had a kitchen, Cat thought, Jade would have been all but self-contained. The goth seemed to have had a similar train of thought, a little black glass-front mini fridge sat on her desk full of cans. The fridge lit up with blue LED's when you opened it, Cat noticed as Jade pulled the little door aside and passed her a nicely cool can of Pepsi. Cat preferred Pepsi to Coke- much to Andre's horror- because she liked the name better. Pepsi. She couldn't tell much difference in taste if she was honest, but she definitely preferred the word Pepsi. Jade had remembered ever since they were children, and it was traditional that Jade always had a Pepsi for Cat when she came over. Cat clutched the little can tightly and perched herself on the edge of the goth's bed. There were a couple of note pads in a messy stack by her pillows and a biro which had rolled onto the black duvet. Cat picked it up carefully in case it drew on the fabric and twirled it between her fingers nervously as Jade came to sit beside her with a sprite, pulling her legs up underneath her until she was comfortable.

"So... What's up?" Jade asked, popping her can open with a quite hiss.

Cat's mind went blank. What was up? Where the hell did she begin? She suddenly felt very self-conscious. Jade would still be her friend if she told her, right? Her fingers fumbled over the smooth course the biro had been swirling between the fingers and she drew a dark blue-black trail up the side of her thumb.

"I don't know where to begin." The red-head said truthfully.

Jade frowned thoughtfully. "Okay, well, if you were a character and you had to explain your situation to an audience so that they could follow what was about to happen in a scene with you in, what would you say to them?"

 _That's an interesting approach._ Cat thought. She tried to picture it.

"I would say..." What would she say? "I'd say that my character had great friends and a great school where she was happy... And she was really grateful for it but... She was sad... And her friends didn't know 'cause she didn't know what to tell them... And one day she tried to tell her mom instead but her mom got angry with her and now her mom doesn't like her anymore and she has to keep pretending she's okay so her mom won't get angry again... And now she can't pretend anymore and she doesn't know what to do..."

Jade's expression had become increasingly concerned as Cat had gone on, and now Cat had trailed off she wasn't sure what to say.

"Why was her mum angry?" The goth said finally.

Cat studied her thumb as she tried to wipe away the line of ink as thoroughly as possible, as if this would somehow let Jade know telepathically. "Because... Of who she liked."

Jade wasn't sure what that meant. "Like, as in friends?"

Cat shook her head.

"Boyfriends?"

"No her mom loved those." Cat said bitterly, taking Jade by surprise.

"And... You didn't?" The goth guessed, breaking the facade.

Cat shook her head again. Jade wasn't sure if she was missing something.

"So... You're sad because you had boyfriends which your mum liked but you didn't?"

Cat smiled softly. "That's an excessively round-about way of putting it but, yeah."

Jade opened her mouth to say she still didn't understand and suddenly it hit her. She had never felt so slow.

"Oh." The goth said simply. When she looked back at Cat, the red-head had teared up again and Jade realised this was the bit when she assured her that everything was fine.

"Hey-" She said, pulling her arms around Cat as best she could without throwing lemonade over her. "Don't be upset kitty, there's nothing wrong with liking girls- wait, you mom got angry with you?"

Cat nodded into Jades shoulder. "She said that one freak of a kid was enough and that if she didn't see me with a boyfriend by the end of the month she'd throw me out…"

Jade was outraged. "What the hell? How could she call your brother a freak, he's _autistic_ not a freak! And how could she think liking girls would make _you_ a freak? What the hell that's so messed up, Cat, I'm really sorry. Don't force yourself to go out with guys if you don't want to. If she flips then you can stay here, probably for the best anyway."

Cat didn't realise how much weight she had been carrying around until it suddenly lifted. "Thanks, Jade." She opened her pepsi and sipped at it.

"So, how long has your mom had a gun to your head over all this?" Jade couldn't believe she had never noticed. Cat always seemed to like her mother.

"About two years." Cat sighed sadly. Jade nearly spat out her sprite.

"What?! Two years, _geez_ I thought you were going to say a couple of months, not years. Though I suppose it's been longer than two months that you've always had boyfriends, so figures. Why today?"

Cat was feeling much better than she had been twenty minutes ago. "Why did I tell you? I just… Tori noticed at lunch that I hadn't had a boyfriend in a while, as a joke, you know? And it made me think, 'that's true' and so I went to this party in the hopes of finding some passable guy like usual and I… I just couldn't do it. He made a _rape_ joke at me. And I left. And called you."

"A guy made a _rape_ joke at you? What?" Jade could get really protective of Cat.

"Something about was my dad in prison 'cause if he was my dad he'd be in prison."

"That's disgusting."

"Not as disgusting as how hard he was trying to wedge his hand between my legs." Cat said honestly. She could talk as herself around Jade, without the air-head persona that seemed to descend upon her when she was in large groups.

Jade looked mortified. Cat almost found it funny, it was the type of look she would expect to get from someone she was going out with if they'd heard the same thing, but then, Jade always had looked after her like a little sister.

 _Apart from new year's eve._ The voice in her head retorted. _That's not usually the sort of thing a girl gets up to with her 'sister'._ Cat felt herself blush.

"Cat, you've gone redder than your hair, you okay?"

Cat gave Jade a sideways glance. She made the split decision to be brave. "Do you… do you remember new year's eve?"

It had been right after Jade and Beck had broken up, two weeks perhaps, no more, and between them, Cat and Jade had consumed enough alcohol to get the entire club drunk, if distributed right. They weren't supposed to be in the club full stop, they'd used the fake ID's that Jade had 'persuaded' Sinjin to get them to get in. When Cat had woken up in the morning at Jade's house she barely remembered anything that had happened the night before, and hadn't thought much of it until later on in the day when she'd gone to take a shower after spilling soda all over herself, and was suddenly confronted with the memory of pushing Jade up against a similar looking bathroom wall to the one she was then staring at. She could remember going back downstairs after her shower, her hair tied up in a bun whilst it dried, and staring awkwardly at Jade trying to work out if the goth remembered it too. If she did, she hadn't ever mentioned it and Cat had never been brave enough to bring it up since.

"Of course I remember new year's eve."

Cat's heart fluttered. For some reason, she hadn't been expecting Jade to say that. "Sorry about that." Cat mumbled meekly.

"Hey, don't be sorry- you're a great kisser-" Jade teased, nudging her playfully. "I just always assumed you never remembered the next day so I never said about it."

Cat blushed scarlet. "I didn't to begin with, then I went to take a shower after the whole soda incident and, well, the black tile thing you have going on in your bathroom is similar to the black marble in that club and it kinda… jogged my memory."

Jade smirked. "Is that why you were staring at me so weirdly whilst I was making lunch? I thought you were just so hung over that you were spacing out."

Cat laughed. "I was trying to decide if you remembered too or if it was just me."

Jade finished her sprite and threw the can across the room. It landed perfectly in the bin with a muffled clang.

"Shot." She said proudly, hopping off the bed. "Well, it's like 1am and we have school tomorrow even if it _is_ Friday, so we should probably get some sleep." She said, stretching.

Cat cursed as she caught sight of Jade's alarm clock. "Yeah, sorry. I didn't mean to keep you up with my pantomime of a personal life." She said dejectedly.

"Cat your life's not a pantomime, your mother is." Jade said bluntly, clearing the note pads off of her bed and turning her iPod off from where it sat cradled in its dock.

Cat couldn't disagree. "Yeah…" She caught the hugely oversized red dress top that Jade threw at her. They had brought it for Cat to wear when she slept over as a joke, since it was so massive on her tiny frame that it came down to her knees. It was cotton though, and Cat had found that it was actually quite comfortable to sleep in. Jade had one too, and though hers was black with white checkers on it, it was equally too big for her.

They got changed quickly as they had done many times before, and Jade disappeared into her bathroom to brush her teeth. When she returned, Jade had taken her hair down from its ponytail and brushed through it, and Cat secretly wished that her hair was naturally straight instead of having to straighten it every day. Jade loved Cat's hair when it was in it's tight little waves, her and Tori always said it looked really nice on her.

 _Funny,_ Cat thought, _It's a defect in the universe's humour that we always want what we can't damned well have._

After brushing her own teeth- she stayed with Jades often enough to have her own toothbrush- a thought struck her. "Hey Jade, do you want me to go down to the spare room?" She asked dropping her now empty Pepsi can into the bin along with Jade's Sprite can and setting the biro down on the desk beside it. She had forgotten she was holding the pen until now.

Jade made a face. "Since when have I made you sleep down there?"

Cat just looked at her awkwardly.

"Cat, do you really think I'd make you sleep in another room just because you like girls? I don't have so much of a high opinion of myself that I assume you have designs on me purely because I'm the right gender. I mean, so is half the planet, doesn't mean you like _all_ of them, same as boys. And hey, even if you did have designs on me, I'm game." She added sleepily as she flopped down onto her side of the bed.

Cat tried not to read too deeply into that or she would be up all night trying to figure out what it meant. "Just checking." She defended mildly. Deep down, she was relieved.

she buried herself under Jade's black duvet and wondered if her mom would somehow telepathically _know_ what Cat had told Jade when she got home.

 _No that's stupid._ She chided. _You just have to act like normal. You go to an acting school for god's sake. Act._ Despite her inner reassurances, she made a note to ask Jade the next day if she could stay for the weekend.


	2. Chapter 2

**[Jade's PoV]**

Jade wished she took math with Cat. It was such a boring lesson, even on those days when she wanted to kill everyone who moved, she could count on math class to make her want to hear one of Cat's bizarre stories, for varieties sake if nothing else. Her teacher droned on.

She wondered if Cat felt any better after last night. Honestly, she was still surprised; Cat had always seemed to fawn over boys so zealously. It was quite an unsettling thought, that Cat had gotten so good at acting out of fear of her mother rather than to pass her school assessments like her friends. Unsettling, and sad. And it pissed Jade off something awful.

"Jade pay attention."

Jade glanced irritably up at her teacher who was already absorbed back into whatever he was banging on about.

It was funny, really. Jade had met Mrs Valentine many times, and they'd never gotten along. Mrs Valentine disapproved, always looking at Jade like she was barely the best of a bad situation and Jade, naturally, had verbally and passive aggressively flipped her off at every chance she'd come across for it. The universe had tipped her off from the start that in one way or another the woman was a bitch.

She remembered new year's eve with a smirk. She really had thought that Cat had forgotten about that in the hangover haze that ensued, but apparently not. She supposed that if she hadn't been so drunk herself she might have taken being pushed up against a bathroom wall and petted as a minor hint at Cat's sexuality, however at the time she was more focused on staying standing.

"Jadelyn. Attention, _please_."

Jade rolled her eyes and started to doodle her math teacher being eaten by a shark on her back of her notes. He was obviously stupid, as he took that to mean she was making notes on the maths, and he turned back to the board. Before Jade could resume her thoughts on Cat, the bell rang for lunch.

"Finally." She said, loud enough for her teacher to hear. He found Jade infuriating, she knew, but what seemed to piss him off the most was that despite her lack of attention in lessons, she always passed his tests near the top of the class, if not at the top.

Jade stuffed her notes into her bag untidily and tried her best not to shove anyone over as she left the math room as fast as possible. She wanted to find Cat and get lunch in that order.

The redhead had asked her if she could stay for the weekend on the drive to school that morning, which Jade had agreed to, but now in hindsight she wanted to make sure that it wasn't because Cat felt like she couldn't go home anymore because of her mom. She was hoping she could ask Cat quickly before the rest of the group showed up and she lost the opportunity for another three hours. Even if it was because Cat felt like that about her mom she could still stay at Jades, but the goth wanted to reassure her friend that it wasn't her only option.

"Hey Jade."

"Oh. Hey." Andre was carrying a bottle of ketchup. "Have you seen Cat?"

Andre tossed his bottle of ketchup from hand to hand thoughtfully. "Not since this morning, and Tori just said that she wasn't in Spanish. I thought she'd skipped with you or something since you had math."

Jade frowned. Cat never missed Spanish, she was fluent already but she still liked the lessons and Jade had seen her come into school ill before so she didn't have to miss it.

"We're all out on the usual table, if you find her." Andre said, waving his ketchup bottle.

"Yeah, see ya."

Jade looked about the hall as if it was going to have neon pointers in Cats direction.

She wasn't at her locker, that much was clear. She supposed she could linger outside Cat's Spanish room incase she came back there but Jade thought that unlikely. She sent her a text, leaning against her own locker.

 _'_ _Cat are you okay?'_

She wasn't sure why she was asking that instead of where she was but she was undeniably worried. She waited anxiously, tapping her thumbnail against the dormant phone screen as she waited for a reply. Was she still upset about last night? Maybe her mom had found out and had taken her home. The thought made Jade feel a little ill and she unlocked her phone to check for a message despite it not having buzzed. Nothing.

 _There's no way her mom could know, stop worrying. She'll be fine. Even if her mom did know, what's she gonna do? Kill her?_

At that moment, coming around the corner as slowly as possible, Cat trailed into view. Jade felt relief wash over her.

"Cat where have you been- Have you been crying?"

The redhead looked up at Jade like she'd done something wrong. Here eyes were a little red and her arms were hugged around her middle tightly.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Jade tried again.

Cat sniffled and shook her head. "Nothing. I skipped Spanish to walk home quickly, 'cause I forgot that I didn't have any of my Homework for later 'cause I was at yours last night."

Jade frowned. "Okay." She said slowly. "Did something happen at home? I mean, I know you like Spanish, but… you seem kinda too upset for just missing one lesson."

Cat shifted uncomfortably and looked at her feet. "Mom was home. She got mad at me for missing school."

Jade felt a flare of anger. She was starting to get really sick of this woman.

She sighed. "C'mere."

Cat shuffled forwards and let Jade hug her. With an obnoxiously loud bang, a boy of Andre's height skidded to a halt and slammed into the lockers next to them and rebounded off again, to carry on running from a really pissed off looking Trina.

Jade grabbed Cat protectively and pulled her out of the way before she got trampled.

"Animals!" Jade shouted after them. Cat yelped quietly as Jade had grabbed her and Jade apologised.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Then Jade paused. Cat was still holding her waist where Jade's arm had come around her.

"Did I hurt you?"

"No!" Cat jumped to answer the question too fast.

"Are you sure?"

"It's just a bruise."

Jade didn't remember her having a bruise that bad. "What? How did you get a bruise?"

The redhead blinked guiltily up at Jade. "Nowhere."

"From nowhere? Let me see-"

"No!" Cat put her arms back around her middle protectively.

"Cat-" Jade's eyes scanned her face. She sighed. "What's going on, why can't I see?"

Cat went quiet. Jade held out her hand and fixed her with a firm look. Cat slowly took it and trailed along behind the goth as she led her to the janitor's closet.

"Okay," Jade said once the door was locked behind them. "Show me the bruise so I know you're okay and I'll let you out of here. Otherwise we're staying in here all day."

Cat looked torn. Slowly, defeatedly, she lifted the corner of her hoodie and revealed her side.

"Cat, what the _fuck?!"_ Jade all but shouted, rushing forwards to look better at the seven inch bruise that stretched diagonally from Cat's right hip all the way up to her ribs on the left.

"It's not that bad!" Cat said immediately, in a high voice.

"Cat tell me how you got this, right now." Jade couldn't look away from the bruising to look at Cat's panicked expression.

 _There's no way she managed to do this to herself._ Jade thought fervently.

"I… I told you… She got mad when I skipped class."

Jade's jaw dropped. "Your mom did this?"

Cat cuddled her hoodie back around her and she sat down on the floor with her knees close to her chest. "She was dusting, she had one of those wooden candle sticks that stand in the corner in the living room and…"

Jade's head was spinning unpleasantly. She knew which candle sticks Cat meant, they were solid carved wood and about four foot tall, with a three and a half inch spike on the end to stab the candle onto to prevent them being knocked off when they were lit. There were four of them around her television.

"Cat the spike on one of those could have really hurt you." Jade said, sliding down the wall to sit by the redhead. "She seriously swung one of those things at you?"

"I missed class…" Cat said sadly, stating into her knees.

"Cat it wouldn't make a difference if you skipped the whole year, no one has the right to hit you with anything, least of all your mom."

"Don't tell anyone!" Cat said immediately, feeling where Jade was going with the conversation.

"Kitty…" Jade whined, deciding if she should try to reason with her friend or relent. Seeing the pleading look on the small girls face, she sighed. "Okay, okay. I won't tell anyone. For now," She added firmly. "But stay over mine for the weekend whilst I work out what I _will_ do."

Cat nodded. "Sorry…"

"Don't apologise." Jade pulled her friend into another hug. "It's not your fault your mom's a psychopath."

Cat looked despondent. "What do you have last lesson?" She asked.

"Nothing, I have a free since English is cancelled. Why?"

Cat shook her head. "Was just wondering. I'm kinda tired."

"What lesson do you have?"

"Math."

Jade pulled a face. "Ew." She tugged her friend up by the arm. "Come on then, let's get some lunch and go to your math room."

Cat sighed and stood up, following Jade back out of the janitor's closet and down the hallway to her Math room.

"You!"

Jade and Cat both turned as one as a blonde boy strayed from his group of friends and approached them. Cat had paled a little and shuffled closer to Jade.

"What the hell's your problem, bitch?" He said angrily when he got close enough.

Realising he was aiming his words at Cat after the day she had had, Jade snapped. "Don't fucking talk to her like that you piece of shit!" She yelled.

"Fuck you!"

"Fuck _you_!" Jade didn't know who the hell this kid was but she was through watching Cat get abused by ass holes.

The boy turned back to Cat, ignoring Jade. "Did you think I wouldn't remember after that party, huh? You think you can just mess me about?" He demanded, pugnaciously.

"You made a rape joke at me!" Cat protested in a high voice, hoping a teacher might come around the corner and take him away.

Without any further warning, the boy backhanded her as hard as he could, sending her flying backwards into Jade. The goth reacted so quickly she didn't honestly consider her setting. Her combat boots collided squarely with his balls, and as he doubled over in pain she grabbed the back of his head and brought her knee up to quickly and effectively break his nose. Her cousin had taught her that when she was 13, and she had remembered it well.

Several people rushed in to restrain Jade, obviously and correctly guessing that she wasn't finished with him, including Tori who had materialised at some point holding an armful of red and black folders.

"Jade you made your point!" Tori said loudly, pulling her away from the boy on the floor and pushing her back in Cat's direction whilst a wall of people formed around the boy. They were mostly just students taking pictures, keen to get a first hand look at the guy that just got beat up by a girl, but Tori had spied a french teacher in the mix.

Cat was crying again and Jade seemed to re focus her attentions on the red head almost as soon as she saw her.

"Oh my god, Cat, are you alright?"

The red head nodded meekly and Jade hugged her, being mindful of the bruise across her middle.

"Was that the same guy from the party yesterday night?"

Cat nodded again and sniffled against Jade's chest. Tori re-appeared.

"Jade, Lane want's to see you." She looked sympathetic. "Hey, Cat, you okay?"

"Yeah." Cat was trying to get herself together.

"What's the damage?" Jade asked, resigned to her fate.

"Not as bad as you think, he was talking loudly enough that the whole hallway knows who started it, and who landed the first hit. Plus, you know what Lane's like, he won't like that a guy hit a girl and he especially won't like that it was Cat. He likes Cat, everyone likes Cat."

Jade wasn't convinced. "Alright, I'll go. Can you stay with Cat?" The smaller girls cheek was starting to blush with a pale bruise.

"Sure."

"I'll be as quick as I can."

When Jade got to Lane's office, she was relieved to find that the guidance councillor hadn't hauled the boy in there too.

"Jade," He welcomed cordially. "Take a seat."

Jade did as she was told in the hopes it would make things go more quickly.

"I've heard several accounts now of what just happened with Catarina outside- but not yours. I'm all ears."

Jade sighed. "Cat had a really rough day, I was walking her to Math, this guy comes up from behind us and starts mouthing off at her because she rejected his ego at a party or something, and then he hit her right across the face."

"And so you broke his nose and his… well. You broke his nose." Lane finished, avoiding mentioning the bludgeoning the boys balls had received.

"Yes." Jade confirmed, not feeling at all guilty but ready to pretend just in case she assessed it would get her a lighter sentence.

To her surprise, Lane made a face that said 'fair enough'.

"You said Cat had met Zack before?"

"At this party she went to last night. He made this gross rape joke at her and she left and came to my house. She was really upset. I guess he was so drunk at the time he let it go, but…" Jade trailed off.

"But now he's sobered up." Lane finished.

Jade nodded in agreement.

"Well," Lane said with some finality, "I think I've heard enough. Every account says Zack started this, and that he threw the first punch, so I'm going to let you off and put this down to self defence and the defence of Catarina. I'm not going to take it any further within the school because as far as I'm concerned, punishing girls for defending themselves isn't a message I want to give out. However, I can't say what Zack's parents will do- whatever it is though, we'll deal with it when we come to it."

Jade looked at him uncertainly. "What thats it? No suspension, long lectures, phone calls home?"

Lane clasped his hands under his chin. "No suspension, no lectures and no phone calls home." He affirmed. "I'm happy to excuse both of you girls for your last lesson if you'd rather take Cat home." He added.

"I don't have a last lesson, but yeah, I'll do that."

Lane smiled, and gestured that she was free to go.

The goth left quickly and text Tori to find out where she had taken the red head, seeing that they were no longer in the corridor. She eventually found them both sitting in an empty class room next to the nurses room.

"Hey."

"Hey Jade, how did it go?" Tori asked when the goth put her head around the door.

"Fine, he let me off, said I could take Cat home."

"He let you off completely?" Cat asked, sounding relieved.

"Yeah, guess Tori was right."

Cat breathed a sigh of relief.

Tori smiled. "Well Tori has to go to her lesson before her Geography teacher kills her, but let her know if anything more happens." The Latina said in third person, getting up from her seat and putting her bag back over her shoulder. Cat passed her the folders from the desk.

"Thanks, I'll see you guys on Monday, yeah?"

The two other girls nodded and Tori left for her lesson.

"You should have heard next door." Cat said quietly.

Jade took Tori's empty seat. "Why?"

"That guy got taken into the nurses room and patched up, and then his dad came. He was really angry, at first I thought it was at you but then I realised it was at him. I don't know what he sounded more angry at, that 'his son had laid his hands on a girl', or the fact he'd been pulled out of work. Then he kept shouting 'no son of mine' over and over, it seemed way out of proportion, he never even asked if he was okay or anything."

"I can't say I'm overwhelmed with sympathy." Jade said honestly.

Cat looked sad and Jade could see that she was; she was too gentle for her own good sometimes.

Jade nudged her friend softly. "Lane said we were free to go home early- wanna go get smoothies instead?"

Cat looked up at the Goth hopefully. "Really?"

Jade laughed. "Yeah, sure. Come on, before your Math teacher finds us and stops us."

Cat looked a little happier at the prospect and to Jade's slight relief, they both made it to her Car without any further trouble. Cat got into the passenger seat and Jade was shoving their bags into the back when a voice caught her attention.

"Hey hey, Tori told me what happened, you guys okay?" Andre was carrying two giant cut out cacti.

"Yeah, we're fine. We're going for smoothies, don't tell." Cat answered with her head out of the window.

"Lucky for some. Just seen Zack's dad taking him home."

"He was really mad." Cat said, sounding like she was worrying.

Andre nodded. "Yeah, I know Zack- don't like him- but apparently his step mom is an abuse survivor or something and his dad is like, the touchiest person ever on the subject."

"Guess that explains his reaction to his son hitting a woman then." Jade said, feeling less sorry for the guy than she had before.

"Indeedy." Andre agreed. "Well, I gotta go deliver these babies to Sikowitz," He said, wiggling the cardboard cacti under his arms. "Have nice smoothies." He waved as best he could and Jade got into the car. Cat pulled her head back inside and put the window up.

"Okay, positive rest of day." Jade said firmly.

Cat nodded. "Okay. Can we watch a film when we go back to yours later?"

Jade smiled, "Sure, Netflix is your oyster."

Cat seemed happier and she turned the radio on as Jade pulled out of the school car park. Jade sang along to living on a prayer with her and made her own prayers that nothing else would go wrong that day.


	3. Chapter 3

Cat sipped at her Mango smoothie tentatively; it had ice in it, and she was afraid of getting brain freeze. It soothed her cheek though, which was still throbbing dully.

Jade was sitting opposite, her smoothie bright red with cherries and in a tall, skinny glass. Cat unconsciously watched the goth's lips as she sipped at it, feeling a familiar fluttering across her stomach.

She was happy with herself for finally telling Jade who she was- even if she was dreading her mom finding out- but she hadn't told her _everything._ Cat had never thought she'd get _this_ far, sitting at the smoothie bar chatting idly about her secret history of girl crushes with Jade, and so not thinking she would ever be out to the goth, she hadn't even began to think about telling Jade her feelings concerning her.

She sighed. _And there's the fact that Jade's so far out of my league I'd have to charter a jet just to have a glimpse at it._

"You alright?" 

Cat looked up to Jade's eyes almost guiltily. "Yeah, sorry- I was just thinking about something."

"Was it about earlier?"

"No." Cat answered truthfully. "I was just thinking about how strange it was not to have to pretend to harp on about some guy I can only just remember the name of for once." It wasn't a total lie.

Jade's face softened. "I wish you'd have told me earlier. I would never have said anything to your mom, we never exactly got along."

Cat smiled weakly. "I know, it was just… hard."

Jade smiled. She understood.

"By the way…" Cat looked down at her smoothie. "Can we, um… go pick some concealer or something up on the way back to yours?"

Jade's eyebrows quirked. "You know, you really don't need make up like that, Cat."

Cat was momentarily distracted from the sad feeling at the bottom of her heart at the compliment. "Thanks," She said brightly. "But I meant for my cheek, and y'know… my side."

Jade sighed. She had a constant underlying feeling of car sickness every time she thought about the new truths behind Cat's home life. "Oh. Yeah, sorry- I forgot for a moment. Sure, we can go get some. Not sure how well concealer is going to work on the bruise on your side, mind you."

Cat shrugged. "I'm just paranoid someone will see, I guess. I don't want to have that conversation with anyone other than you, yet."

Jade twirled her skinny black straw around her smoothie slowly, trying to gauge if she should really ask Cat the question that had just slunk into the back of her mind. She went for it.

"Cat… Has she done this before?" Jade met the redhead's eyes for a second as she finished her question. She was keeping her voice down despite the fact that they were both sitting alone on a balcony away from the main bustle of the smoothie bar downstairs.

Cat shifted in her seat and considered lying. She couldn't do it.

"Yeah…" She answered, not elaborating. "She never used to!" She added quickly when she saw Jade's anger flicker behind her green eyes. "When her and dad were together she was really nice…" She tried to justify. Here eyes went dark as her story caught up with her. "But one day after dad moved away, she got really mad at Frankie for something- I think he spilled his juice- and he was having a no-talk day and so he didn't apologise and she threw a plate at his head… But I caught it. It broke and cut my hand- I don't even know how I caught it, we were sitting at the table and it was just a reflex. Ever since then, she acts like Frankie doesn't exist until she's angry, and I get the blame for everything…"

The way Jade was staring at her made her nervous.

"I- I didn't mean to say all that." She said apologetically, looking like a small, frightened child, wringing her hands.

"No." Jade said eventually. She sounded like she was throwing a lot of water over an internal inferno, and Cat got the impression it was for her benefit. She could almost picture the steam. "It's okay, I'm glad you told me. Who the hell throws a plate at their autistic kid?!" She burst out suddenly. Cat flinched. She supposed that was the hissing that came with the fire-dowsing.

"Sorry." Jade apologised, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm sorry, I'm just… really pissed."

"At me?" Cat's eyes were like saucers.

Jade didn't catch what she said at first, so quietly did her friend ask it, and it took a moment for her to process. "What- no. No! Kitty, of course not at you. At _her_." Cat looked relieved.

"Look, we can talk more about your mom over the weekend, let's try and avoid talking about any more maniacs for today. We said positive rest of day, after all."

Cat nodded. With each small detail she told Jade, she could feel a little bit more weight lifting from her tiny shoulders.

Jade noticed almost immediately that it was the first time Cat hadn't defended her mom against her insults.

The redhead finished her smoothie at the same time as Jade and in an effort to cheer Cat up, the goth suggested looking in the pet shop on the way to buy make-up. She perked up immediately.

"C'mon, let's go, before they close up."

Cat walked along the side walk with Jade and talked about the various new productions the school was starting up, and whether there was any they were considering getting involved with. Cat hadn't really seen anything that had grabbed her interest, but Jade was thinking of auditioning for a part in Little Shop Of Horrors.

"I don't know, I'll have to see the script first." She concluded after a couple of minutes debating.

Cat agreed and then Jade let her disappear into a shop to buy the make-up she needed while she waited outside.

She tried not to think about all the things Cat had told her over the course of the day. It kept creeping back, though, the idea of Cat and her brother always walking on eggshells around their volatile, capriciously aggressive mother. She didn't know what to do about it, or even if there was anything she could do about it. She sighed. She supposed it would hinge on whether or not Cat was willing to say anything. Would her and her brother be taken into care if she did? She knew Cat's dad lived out of state. Maybe they would have to go and live with him. Cat seemed to like her dad but it broke Jade's heart to think about her moving so far away where she wouldn't be able to see her. She wouldn't even be in school. She felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes and knew she was letting it all get to her. There was no guarantee that Cat would go anywhere.

"Hey, I'm back."

Jade jumped a little and blinked a few times. "Oh, hey kitty, sorry I was miles away."

"That's okay- are you crying?" Cat looked concerned.

"No." Jade lied.

"Okay." Jade knew Cat didn't buy it but she was grateful she didn't press the matter any further.

They walked in comfortable silence the rest of the way to the pet shop. A bell rang over the door when they opened it and Cat was already 100 times happier now she was surrounded by the smell of hay and bird seed. The man that worked there was setting a thermometer on the side of a fish tank and nodded to them as they came in.

Cat read the names of every rabbit, budgie and fish as she slowly walked past them all, and Jade suggested names that would be better, eventually renaming all the fish in one tank after characters from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Cat came to the reptiles as the fish section ended and pressed her hand against the glass of one of the vivariums. "I always wanted a bearded dragon." She said absentmindedly. "They remind me of Frankie, the way the sit and watch everything."

Jade looked at the different coloured bearded dragons, and decided she was right. There was something about them that reminded her of Frankie, too.

"I used to have one." Jade said, surprised at the realisation she'd never told Cat that.

Cat looked at her with equal surprise. "Really? I never knew that."

"Yeah she was called Wednesday, after Wednesday Addams. She was my moms originally, mom and dad had her before I was born. She passed away when she was 10 and I was seven- a whole year before I ever knew you. We still have the tank in the attic, I think."

Cat looked fascinated. "Was she easy to keep?"

Jade nodded. "Yeah, just feed them right, keep their tanks properly lit and warmed up to the right temperatures and you're good to go. If you handle them from a young age they get tame as a lump of dough, Wednesday was. I think they're a laid back species on the whole, though."

Cat was still watching them intently. "Mom wont let us have pets, she says they're dirty. I don't think they're dirty. She doesn't like lizards, either."

"You'll have one one day." Jade assured.

Cat smiled. "I hope so."

Cat suddenly looked up. "Jade I have no clothes for the weekend."

Jade cursed inwardly. She hadn't thought of that.

"Can we go to mine quickly on the way to yours?"

Jade opened her mouth to inform her friend that if she saw the redhead's mother she'd kill her, but reading her mind, Cat cut her off. "Mom wont be there. She's away on business for the weekend, I promise. Frankie'll be home, though."

Jade thought about it. "Alright okay, but only if you're sure only Frankie will be home."

Cat nodded. "I'm sure."

With some effort, Jade crow-bared Cat away from the bearded dragons and walked her back to the car. The drive to Cat's was almost tense and when they got there, Jade let out an audible sigh of relief as Cat pointed out the empty drive way.

"See, I told you she wouldn't be here." Cat said, sounding like she was a little relieved herself despite her conviction.

"Should Frankie be home alone all weekend?" Jade asked as they crunched up the gravel drive way.

"Yeah, he's fine, he can make food and he text's me if there's anything he needs. I'm only ten minutes down the road at your place, anyway."

They found Cat's brother sitting on the stairs colouring a design from a book.

"Hi Frankie." Jade smiled.

Frankie was huge, not fat by any means, but built like an ox, just over six and a half feet tall with great paws of hands that Jade was sure could bend metal if they tried. Frankie never would though; he was very quiet, rarely spoke, placid natured and gentle in everything he did. His skin was the same tan as Cat's but his hair was a sandy blonde. His eyes were very similar to Cat's, too, the same dark smooth brown. All his features were soft and childlike. He wasn't keen on being touched, and to date the only person who was allowed to at all was Cat. He was clever though; very clever- he was very aware and always observing from a quiet corner. Sometimes he would speak, usually only when totally un-prompted, and always quietly and politely. Cat had once told Jade that he struggled greatly to express himself properly, and had to think very hard to craft the words together before he spoke, and got upset when you tried to pressure him. Cat rarely needed to speak to him though, she seemed to know what he was thinking without even trying. Jade always thought it was rather like the weird thing some identical things had going on, when they finish each others sentences and the likes.

Frankie looked up from his colouring and blinked a couple of times in acknowledgement before returning to the intricate zen designs. The colouring never went a millimetre over the lines.

Cat smiled and led Jade quickly to her bedroom to gather up some clothes.

"Does he like colouring?" Jade asked, not having seen him doing it before.

"Yeah, I got him a few books for his birthday, they're adult ones, with all these impossibly detailed pictures to colour. It helps him to think when he's stressed out. They're really good- he finishes them all perfectly. He likes them because they're geometric, so they're predictable, y'know. He likes routine and pattern."

As Cat said it, she noticed there were quite a few pinned to the cork-board that had all Cat's photographs on it by her desk and put up on the back of her door. "He gives them all to me when he's done." Cat explained, seeing Jade looking.

"That's sweet." Jade liked Frankie. "Do you think he's stressed out now?"

Cat looked uneasy. "I think he saw mom earlier. You know, with the candle stick. He doesn't like it, he hates confrontation and shouting."

Jade was still looking at all the perfectly completed colouring pages. "Oh." She said sadly. She hadn't thought about Frankie's whereabouts in all this.

"He stresses out a lot worse when I'm involved like that, that's why I try so hard to keep her happy, really. It's not fair on him if me and mom are fighting all the time."

Jade sighed. Cat's heart was way out of proportion with her tiny body. She loved her brother a lot.

"You know when I was born, he used to sit with me for hours at a time and refuse to let any one take me. He was only three. Everyone couldn't get over it because up 'til that point he'd never touched another human voluntarily and no one thought he ever would. Used to sing to me, too. There's hundreds of recordings of him singing various things he'd heard on the radio, mom and dad used to try and record it every time he did it because in three years, they'd never heard his voice before, it was the first time he spoke. They used to play it back to themselves, totally fascinated to hear what their son sounded like for the first time. They used to cry 'cause it made them so happy." Cat smiled to herself. "It's funny, he would always stop as soon as he worked out he was being recorded. Dad used to say he reckoned that's were I got my singing voice from, 'cause Frankie sang to me like, from birth." She sighed. "A lot's changed."

Jade smiled sympathetically. "At least he's got you."

Cat smiled back as she finished putting clothes into an overnight bag. "Yeah, I guess. I'm just gonna tell him where I'm going."

Cat crossed the hall with Jade in tow and knocked on Frankie's door.

Jade frowned. "How do you know he's in there, he was on the stairs a minute ago."

Cat just smiled. "Trust me, I know."

Before Jade could answer, Frankie opened his door. His eyebrows were raised a bit and his eyes were wider than usual. He looked like he was listening to someone shout instructions to him from a distance.

"Frankie, I'm going to Jade's for the weekend. I think it'll be good if I stay there a few days."

They stared at each other and Jade got the prickling feeling she usually got when they communicated without talking. She could almost see it, travelling between their eyes as Cat told him silently everything she couldn't say out loud. Was she apologising? Perhaps, but either way Jade sensed the mutual understanding.

"I'd like to borrow your Macbook, please." He said suddenly, quietly.

Cat faltered for a moment. Frankie had his own macbook and he always used his own things- if he didn't have something, he'd buy it before he'd borrow it. "Alright." She said, eventually, not being able to see anything wrong with it either way. "I'll go get it for you."

Without another word, Frankie turned back to sit cross-legged on his navy blue bed amongst all the posters about the elements and the solar system.

Cat disappeared back into her room for a moment and then re-appeared with her mac. She put it on the end of his bed, so that the corner aligned directly with the corner of the bed and had equal distance from the width and length of the bed and the width and length of the laptop. He'd only correct it himself if she put it unevenly.

"Okay, I'll see you after school on Monday at about five to four in the afternoon." Cat had to be precise- Jade had seen Frankie freak out when he didn't know the exact schedule everyone was on.

"Text me if you need anything." Cat said kindly.

With that, they left the house with Cat's stash of clothes and got back into the car.

The redhead was noticeably happier all the way to Jade's house. When they got home, she disappeared up the stairs to get the traditional Pepsi out of the mini fridge and take a quick shower in Jade's bathroom.

Jade sat on the sofa opposite her mom and considered telling her everything whilst she had the chance. Her mom didn't look up from her work for a moment, but sensing eyes on her, clicked her pen closed and looked up to Jade expectantly.

After a moment Jade spoke. "Mom, do we still have Wednesday's tank upstairs?"

Her mom nodded. "In the attic, yes. Why, thinking of getting another one? I don't mind."

How on earth the most open minded woman in the world had managed to marry the stroppy, petulant, walking tantrum of a husband that was Jade's father, Jade would never understand.

"I might get one for Cat, but don't tell her. Could it live here if I did?"

Jade's mom stared at her for a moment, and Jade knew she could feel something was happening with Cat. She'd had the same look when Cat had turned up after the party. Jade's mom was a perceptive woman, Jade was usually unsuccessful in trying to hide things from her.

"Of course." She said simply. "Everything alright?"

 _Busted._ Jade thought. Her mom definitely knew that something was wrong. "Yes." Jade confirmed.

Her mother held her gaze for a little longer before smiling a little. "Okay." She said, letting the matter drop. Underneath, Jade knew that really meant 'I know damned fine you're lying to me but I assume you'll tell me in your own time and can deal with it until then.'

At least someone's mom was sane, Jade thought as she climbed the stairs after Cat. She could hear the shower going and sat down on the edge of her bed to check her phone as she waited for Cat to come out.

Andre had text to say they were all hoping Cat was okay, and Tori had text to say that she'd got Cat's math teacher to excuse her from the homework. That would definitely cheer Cat up.

Jade picked up the remote to her TV that was mounted to the wall at the end of her bed and turned on her Playstation. She cycled through the options until she found Netflix and loaded it up so Cat could choose something to watch, shifting over to her side of the bed next to the wall. A couple of minutes later, Cat appeared wrapped in a fluffy black towel, her hair wet and starting already to spring into its natural curls.

"Sorry, I forgot a towel. I got a new one out of the cupboard."

"That's alright. Uh, I'll turn around." Jade lay with her back to Cat as the redhead got dressed into her pyjamas, which really consisted of a white tank top and her underwear.

Once she was dressed, she folded up the towel and carried it back to the bathroom to stow it away.

"Alright, I'm good." She announced as she came back, jumping onto Jade's bed and looking at the TV screen hopefully. "Can I still choose what to watch?"

Jade chuckled and handed her the PS4 controller. "Go for it."

Cat chose Ratatouille. Jade had only seen it once, she remembered it was about a rat who had really a really good sense of taste and smell and after getting separated from his family, who disapproved of him for refusing to eat garbage, went to work in a big restaurant in Paris by controlling one of the cooks by pulling his hair under his chef hat. The moral in the film was 'anyone can cook', but Jade guessed it was supposed to teach kids not to judge by appearance.

The film started and Cat rested her head on Jade's shoulder. She was happy here.

Jade looked down at the redhead, staring intently at the screen as Remy the rat smashed through a window holding a cookbook to the sounds of a screaming old lady with a shotgun.

The images reflected in Cat's dark eyes and Jade watched her for a little while, stuck somewhere between deep thought and not thinking at all.

Cat really was beautiful, Jade had meant what she had said about the redhead not needing make-up earlier. Feeling eyes on her, Cat glanced up at Jade questioningly.

Jade hugged her warmly and resumed watching the film. It wasn't that bad as Cat-films went.

"I love how Remy's dad accepts him in the end and supports him to do all the stuff he wants." Cat said wistfully, towards the end of the film.

Jade found herself looking at the smaller girls face again. Cat didn't look away from the screen as she said it. She had almost sounded sad though.

Jade wished she could make everything with Cat's mom better. When Cat felt the eyes on her the second time, she looked up for a little longer.

"Are you okay?"

Jade's lips quirked at their corners. "Yeah." She assured quietly.

If it had been a novel, Jade thought, the next few moments would have been written something like 'it all happened so fast' or 'I never saw it coming.' In actual fact though, it happened very slowly, and Jade saw it coming a mile away. Cat- or maybe it was her, she wasn't sure, it could have been both of them- leaned in slowly and pressed her lips against Jade's softly. Jade couldn't make her mind work to process what was going on in the first few seconds, and by the time it had, Cat had pulled away looking positively terrified.

"Oh my god, Jade, I'm so sorry!" She gushed.

Jade stared at her for a second before her brain kicked back in, and she caught Cat by the chin gently, pulling her back and kissing her again a little harder. Jade wasn't sure what she was doing or why, and she could feel the surprise radiating from Cat. It felt right though, and Jade had memories of New Year's Eve running through her mind by the time she pulled away.

Cat was so adorably dazed that Jade had to suppress a smile.

"I'm not sure where that came from, but i'm not feeling the regret." Jade said slowly, after a couple of seconds had passed.

Cat opened her mouth to say something, but looked a little lost. "I… I wanted to do that since I was twelve." She blurted, finally.

It was Jade's turn to be surprised as Cat clamped her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide.

"Really?" Jade watched Cat closely.

Cat peeked up at her guiltily.

Jade smiled in the hopes of making her feel better. "Hey, it's okay, I don't mind. I just… Didn't realise you had a five year long crush."

"You don't mind?" Cat looked tentative.

Jade pulled her back into a hug. "No." She said simply. So much had happened in one day now, she wasn't sure she could handle any more.

Cat relaxed against her. "Oh. I thought you'd kill me."

Jade rolled her eyes playfully. "Yeah, because I'm usually SO harsh on you."

Cat smiled and closed her eyes. She felt like so much had been lifted from her shoulders she was physically lighter.

Jade's mom broke the comfortable quiet with a call for dinner and after Cat put some loose pyjama bottoms on, the two girls made their way downstairs, Cat taking her Pepsi can with her.

"Sorry I got into my pyjamas before dinner," Cat apologised to Jade's mom, "I didn't think when I got out of the shower."

Jade's mum looked at her as if that were a strange thing to apologise for. "That's fine, god knows Jade normally does."

Jade grinned. "Damned right I do."

Jade's mom had made Two large pizzas from scratch, one with olives and peppers, the other with ham and pineapple, and they all ate around the marble topped island in the kitchen perched on black bar stools. They talked about school and the different classes and how they were going. Jade's mom thought Jade's drawing of her Math teacher being eaten by a shark was quite amusing when Jade fished it out of her bag, and Cat laughed so much she nearly fell off her stool.

Jade was secretly noticing how suddenly Cat's mood seemed to have bounced back up to how she was used to it; happy and light.

She made it her mission then and there to keep it that way.


End file.
